U.S. Teachers Are Much Less Diverse Than Their Students

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Minority students made up 31 percent of the U.S. public school population in 1993, but by 2003 that number had jumped to 41 percent.

Fewer than 1 in 5 of U.S. teachers are nonwhite according to new studies by the Center for American Progress and the National Education Association. Of the 3.3 million teachers in public elementary and secondary schools in 2012, 82 percent were white, 8 percent were Hispanic, 7 percent were black and about 2 percent were Asian. U.S. students are much more diverse — about 48 percent are nonwhite according to the Center for American Progress.